Culinary Expert

Chapter 42: Foreign Customers (Part 1)

11:15 a. m. The midday sun beat down on the earth, blindingly bright, and the air was stiflingly hot. Even with his motorcycle helmet on, Guo Zhaohui could hardly stand the heat, so he found a spot under a tree to cool off. Crouching under the tree, Guo Zhaohui took off his motorcycle helmet, rubbed his rough, calloused hands, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, tucked one between his lips, lit it, and took a deep drag. The motorcycle taxi business is just that unstable—when business is good, you can easily make several hundred yuan a day, but when it’s slow, it’s hard to even make 10 yuan. Guo Zhaohui’s business hadn’t been great this morning. Over the past couple of days, QR-code-scanning bike-sharing stations have been popping up one after another at bus stops throughout Jianghai City. These QR-code bikes are very convenient to use, and since there are no restrictions on where you can park them, the number of customers for Guo Zhaohui’s motorcycle service has dropped significantly. Guo Zhaohui is the kind of person who adapts to the situation; he didn’t just stay at the bus stops but shifted his operations to the area near the high-speed rail station. Although there were QR-code bikes here as well, the high foot traffic at the high-speed rail station naturally meant he was more likely to pick up passengers. After finishing a cigarette, Guo Zhaohui noticed a blonde, blue-eyed foreign woman carrying a small rolling suitcase, walking gracefully toward him. The foreign woman’s Chinese name was Lisa; she was a senior luggage designer for a foreign company. Due to frequent business dealings with Huaxia, she had already visited the country dozens of times. A couple of days ago, Lisa flew directly from abroad to the Imperial Capital. After spending two days there on business, she took a high-speed train from the Imperial Capital to Jianghai City early this morning. Normally, the partner company in China would have sent someone to pick her up. However, Lisa specifically requested that no one meet her. On the one hand, she had loved China since childhood; she was something of a Huaxia buff and had no trouble communicating in Chinese. On the other hand, she had a small personal motive: she wanted to sample the local cuisine on her own. Lisa loves Chinese cuisine, so whenever she visits a new city in Huaxia, the first thing she does is sample the local delicacies. This lunchtime was no exception; she planned to find an authentic Chinese restaurant and treat herself to a hearty meal. However, since it was her first time in Jianghai City, she had no idea where to find good food. Just as she was hesitating. Guo Zhaohui, who had been sitting in the shade of a tree, stubbed out his cigarette and walked up to Lisa. Gesturing and smiling, he said, “Hello… where are you headed?” To make money, Guo Zhaohui had a rule: no matter who it was, as long as they were a potential customer looking lost, he would go over and strike up a conversation—purely on a hunch. Faced with Guo Zhaohui’s sudden approach, Lisa was startled at first, but she quickly regained her composure. The middle-aged man from Huaxia standing before her was tall, with chiseled features and deep-set eyes; he looked very rugged and upright. Lisa was somewhat of a “looks-first” person, and she was quite taken with the rugged, manly appearance of the middle-aged man standing before her. “Hello, do you know of any good Chinese restaurants around here?” Lisa asked in broken Huaxia. Although her word order was a bit jumbled, Guo Zhaohui still understood the foreign woman’s intention. Guo Zhaohui pointed to his motorcycle and deliberately slowed his speech: “There’s a fantastic Chinese restaurant nearby. Want me to take you there? I guarantee the food is great.” Hearing about a fantastic Chinese restaurant, Lisa—a self-proclaimed foodie—immediately lit up. “Hello, how much does it cost to ride this motorcycle to that great restaurant?” Lisa asked about the price. “Twenty yuan.” Guo Zhaohui was an honest guy; even though she was a foreigner, he had no intention of ripping her off—he’d charge exactly what was fair. After learning the price, Lisa continued in her broken Chinese, “Okay, then take me to that great Huaxia Restaurant.” Unlike other foreigners, Lisa didn’t harbor any prejudices against Huaxia people. She had traveled to Huaxia dozens of times and found that safety and order in the country were actually quite good, and that the overall quality of the Huaxian people wasn’t nearly as bad as rumors abroad made it out to be. Most importantly, during her last business trip to another city in Huaxia, it was also thanks to a recommendation from a motorcycle taxi driver that she found a pretty good local Chinese Restaurant. Building on the trust established last time, Lisa didn’t hesitate for a moment; she grabbed her small rolling suitcase and immediately hopped on Guo Zhaohui’s motorcycle. Having secured his first fare from a foreign customer, Guo Zhaohui was over the moon. However, this ride had another mission besides making money. That was to recommend a Chinese restaurant to the foreign woman. Guo Zhaohui already had an idea in mind. The restaurant he recommended certainly couldn’t be a source of embarrassment; it had to live up to the label of “China’s cuisine.” So it had to be the “Xiaobai Restaurant”—a place he’d visited once and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about ever since. Meanwhile, Guo Zhaohui rode his motorcycle, carrying the foreign woman, and headed steadily toward Xiaobai Restaurant. Elsewhere, Bai Xiaobai was sitting in a wicker chair, moving his mouse to the upper right corner of the desktop and clicking the “X” to close the Huaxia Chess game window. It was pretty frustrating. Bai Xiaobai considered himself a decent Chinese chess player, but after playing three consecutive games of “Huaxia Chess” against the computer, he ended up suffering crushing defeats in every single one—not a single victory. In one game, the computer checkmated him twice in a row by capturing his rook; in another, it checkmated him to death with a double cannon attack… The last game was even worse: with only his lone king left, he was completely wiped out by the computer… Hehe Just as the Go world has AlphaGo, the software behind Huaxia Chess is no slouch either. After Bai Xiaobai shut down the computer in frustration, he noticed Xiao Hei sitting outside the bedroom, his little tongue hanging out of his mouth as he stared at him with those adorable little eyes. That rascal Xiao Hei is always MIA—either sleeping in some corner of the stairwell or out causing trouble. If this little rascal ever shows up there’s no doubt about it—it’s definitely mealtime. Bai Xiaobai glanced at his watch. Sure enough, after playing a few games of Chinese chess, it was already 11:30 without him even noticing. Time to open for business. Bai Xiaobai habitually splashed some cold water on his face, then went downstairs to get some dog food and feed Xiao Hei. Only then did he leisurely pull up the roll-up gate. As soon as the gate opened, the countdown to closing time officially began in his mind. Six hours of business a day—he had no idea what percentage of his “awesome” daily quota he’d manage to complete today. Outside on Chaotianmen Street, the sunlight was blinding, and the air was unusually stifling. Wei Hai, carrying his backpack, strode briskly toward Xiaobai Restaurant. Wei Hai had just seen Xiaobai Restaurant with its doors tightly shut from a distance and assumed it wasn’t open for lunch. Unexpectedly, as he took a few steps closer, he happened to see Bai Xiaobai pulling up the roll-up gate. “Mr. Bai, you’re taking it pretty easy today—just now opening up,” Wei Hai joked with a smile as soon as he stepped inside. “I had a little something to take care of. Welcome! What’d you like for lunch today? Or the usual from this morning?” Bai Xiaobai asked with a polite smile upon seeing Wei Hai.